Stella McCartney’s sustainability call

ICONINSIDER — Stella McCartney has called for legal changes to force designers to use more sustainable materials.
The 46-year-old designer has called for “more mindfulness” in the creative industries and thinks legislation should be passed in order to protect the planet.
She said: “If everyone in the design world created a more sustainable product with more mindfulness, then it wouldn’t even be a conversation. But they’re not.
“We need to impose new laws on designers because sadly people aren’t taking responsibility, and there is no incentive to encourage them.
“In order to encourage people to have better practice in their business, to have better product for the planet and the animals who inhabit us with us, then there absolutely should be some laws in place to make it harder for people to screw the planet up.”
And Stella – whose store features biodegradable mannequins made from a bioplastic material composed of sugar-cane derivatives and an air-filtration system that provides the “cleanest air in London” – admitted environmental impact is always at the forefront of her thinking when she’s working.
She told Dezeen.com: “For me as a designer, the minute I make something I think about the planet.
“If I really wanted to be an eco warrior I’d just sit at home and only eat stuff out of my garden.”
Stella also “begged” other designers to use sustainable viscose in their creations.
She said: “When I look at Amal Clooney’s dress from the royal wedding, that is [made from] a sustainable viscose. Viscose is made from trees and 150 million of them are cut down each year in the name of fashion.
“I spent three years of my life dedicated to finding trees from a sustainable wood and we wove that with mills that make conventional viscose. We had to train them and they resisted at first, but we persevered and now we’ve done it.
“I call and beg every designer to replace their viscose with my sustainable one. If I can do it, anyone can do it.”
But the British designer insists she isn’t trying to “preach” to anyone.
She said: “This is not easy for me and these shoulder-padded-shoulders to do. I’m trying to lead by example, I’m not making a sacrifice and I’m trying not to preach.
“It’s exhausting full stop, but we believe it and we do it and we won’t stop.”

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